Teckal Srl v Comune de Viano and Azienda Gas-Acqua Consorziale (AGAC) di Reggio Emilia [1999] EUECJ C-107/98 – Law Journals

Services: When ‘in-house’ ends up in the outhouse

Alexandra Cross and Al Goodwin review recent developments in shared services arrangements ‘The ECJ has recently distinguished particular aspects of the conditions which trigger the application of public sector “in-house” exemptions in the case of Piepenbrock.’Public sector shared services arrangements are nothing new – in the local authority sector alone, the Local Government Association has …

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Regulation: Wishing well

Martin Vincent examines exemption from the Public Contracts Regulations To benefit from the Teckal exception, a contracting authority must control the contractor to a degree that is similar to that which it exercises over its own departments.’There is seemingly a lot of confusion out there regarding contracts between contracting authorities and whether they are exempt …

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Services: One for me, none for you…

Jonathan Parker discusses the use of shared services It appears that plans set out in Civil Service Reform Plan of June 2012 that shared services “become the norm” will be welcome relief to some. Unfortunately, proposed changes to the EU procurement regime may complicate the realisation of these aims.Shared services are similar to a collaboration …

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Update: Have a care

Jack Hayward reports on a rather contentious time in procurement practice ‘For those involved in the outsourcing of public services, particularly to mutuals and staff buyouts, funding has always been an issue. The government has made much of social impact bonds but provided very little meat on the bones.’I have spent the past few months …

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Legislation: Top ten changes

Joanne McDowall reviews the new UK procurement regulations ‘The administrative burden on all parties may reduce significantly as a result of provisions designed to reduce the documentation requirements of procurement processes.’During the course of the next couple of years we will have yet another new set of procurement regulations in the UK, this time in …

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Legislation: Illuminating light regulation

Christopher Brennan considers the impact of the proposed EC Directives ‘Purchasers will need to comply with the general principles of equal treatment and transparency, and have regard to certain qualitative aspects when awarding contracts for those services.’Public procurement law is set to change following proposed new directives issued by the European Commission in December. Updating …

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Legislation: Don’t rule it out!

Catherine Wolfenden and Jorren Knibbe look at the applicability of procurement rules to joint ventures with public authorities ‘HM Treasury’s March 2010 guidance note on joint ventures provides only very limited information to public sector bodies on the application of the procurement rules.’Do the procurement rules apply? A question that should be easy to answer, …

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Outsourcing: In a league of their own

Jack Hayward and Anthony Butler discuss strategies for outsourcing to employees from a local authority perspective ‘The government is asking local authorities to pioneer the use of employee-owned entities, but neglecting to give authorities the tools with which to deliver the end product.’Outsourcing is not a new concept for local authorities, and over the past …

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Mutuals: Power to the people

Richard Auton assesses the potential impact of staff mutuals ‘Assuming that the public service mutual will want to be paid by the public body for delivering the service, the arrangement is likely to be a “contract… for consideration… under which a contracting authority engages a person to provide services”. In other words it would be …

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